I’ve been guilty of not updating my blog lately. Ever since my column ceased to be (more on that in a moment) I just haven’t been making regular posts. And I apologize for that. I’ll try to do better!

There are a lot of things going on around our “House of Blue”. Here are a few of them, coupled with some random observations, in no particular order — and a few pics thrown in, because what fun is a blog post without photos?

1. I’m no longer a columnist for the Covington News. I don’t really know why. They never really fired me and I never officially quit — they just didn’t publish the last column I submitted, and never offered a reason even when I asked them to explain. It was a real bummer because that column would’ve helped us a lot in our adoption fundraising by making our local community aware of it. It might have seriously increased the attendance at the silent auction we hosted to raise money, and resulted in some ongoing help as we continue to raise funds for this purpose.

You’d think that after six years of writing for them for free, they could’ve at least done that much for me and the sweet orphan who would’ve benefited from that article being published.

Whether intended or not, their neglect spoke volumes to me of the value they placed on my work. Of course, I had, what, at least eight different editors over the six years I wrote there, saw a ton of writers come and go, and heard from a lot of these former employees that there are serious problems up the chain of command at that publication. More than a few advised me to jump ship years ago. I didn’t, because every time I considered doing so, I’d hear from someone who enjoyed what I’d written and that kept me going, knowing there was an audience for my work. I got emails from people saying that my column was the only reason they bought the paper, and I didn’t want to disappoint them. But now, life is so busy that I don’t have the luxury of devoting precious hours to a business that couldn’t care less about whether I write for them or not. It’s sad, but everything has its season, and that season appears to have ended.

2. If you somehow missed this news, as referenced above, our family is in the process of adopting a beautiful school-aged girl from Uganda. I’m limiting what I share openly online about this, but I appreciate your prayers and truly welcome any fundraising assistance you could give. We are down to needing just a couple thousand more dollars to wrap up the process! Send me a message if you’d like to help and I’ll send you the information on how to donate and get a tax receipt for doing so. God willing, she should be an official part of our family by May!

3. Our oldest son, Zach, turned 15 last month and is probably going to attend public high school next year. Yes, this homeschooling mama who once said, “Never!” to public school is now eating those words. It really is true that one should never say never. You just can’t foretell how situations might change, how people might change, and how something that had always felt like a totally wrong fit might actually serve a purpose later on.

I doubt I’ll ever be the biggest fan of our public education system, but after all these years of paying taxes into it and getting nothing out of it, it appears our time has come to cash in and hope that this provides what our son seems to be needing right now. I’m sure there will be more posts about this later.

4. In other Zach news, he cooked an awesome dinner for us last night — angel hair pasta in a creamy basil sauce with turkey meatballs — very tasty for a 15-year-old chef! And just a little while ago, I overheard him tell his friend that a word the kid said is not allowed in this house, especially not in front of his baby brother. You wonder if your kids listen to you, if they will keep to the standard you set, and oftentimes, they don’t. But when you overhear them honoring that standard in casual conversation, and handling it in a really mature manner, you can’t help but smile.

5. Eli continues to keep us all smiling with his cheery personality, sharp wit and crazy antics (for instance, this narwhal impersonation when we were in Florida last month). He turns 11 next month and is in the process of learning THIS song for his acting class’s end-of-year production. It’s a perfect fit for my young Jedi! We’re still homeschooling him and he is doing really well with his grades. He often tells me that he has ZERO desire to go to school and is so glad he’s homeschooled. I really think he and his new sister are going to be fast friends — they seem to have a lot in common.

6. Jonah is 3 1/2 and as you can see, still a total bed-hog. Seriously, this picture shows why even a king-sized bed is not big enough for two adults and a tall preschooler. He is off the charts on height and totally pee-potty-trained now. But poop is a whole ‘nother story. If poop-talk is TMI for you, feel free to skip ahead. But I really appreciate any input from my mom friends on how make him unafraid to poop on the toilet. He begs for a Pull-Up to poop in and yells “NO!” to any suggestion or coercion to do it on the pot. He loves his big boy underwear and has never had a poop accident while wearing them — he just holds it if he isn’t wearing a Pull-Up. He definitely has a stubborn streak and boy, is it ever rearing its ugly head over this situation! Helpful comments welcome!

7. Mr. Romance (a.k.a. my husband, Donnie) texted me a little love note yesterday and I immediately wondered if his phone had been hacked! It’s hilarious how a house full of kids makes romance such a rarely-seen visitor…I can’t even remember the last time I sent him anything sweet like that. It’s kind of sad, really, how easy it is to put the marriage on the back burner. Actually, it’s more like life keeps plunking full, boiling-over pots onto the stovetop, shoving the marriage out of the way in the process. We’re still clinging to our little corner of the stove, though — WE started this thing called “Our Family” and together, we are going to finish it!